Northern Highlands has been celebrating a lot this year. Will they be against Ridgewood?
Ridgewood at Northern Highlands.
River Dell at Pascack Hills.
All Top 10 teams in The Record rankings, both games division battles.
Doesn’t get much bigger than that.
What else is going on in North Jersey girls soccer? We’ve got notes from around the area, the latest Top 25 rankings and a story on two IHA juniors committing to college.
Now what about those games?
Northern Highlands is riding a 75-game unbeaten streak. It’s ranked No. 1 in the nation by the NSCAA. It has more offensive weapons (Hana Kerner, Casey Richards, Eva Hurm, Ariel Somple, Julia Pash, Claire Nam, etc.) than spots on the field. It’s got a shutdown D that hasn’t allowed a goal this year. That doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.
Ridgewood is a defensive-minded team. Its goal is to get up early in a game and then pack in the box. While I don’t think that’s a recipe for success against Highlands all the time — mostly because Highlands has so many scorers — it is important to note that Ridgewood was leading Highlands, 1-0, with less than 30 seconds left two years ago before Highlands scored at the end of regulation and won in overtime.
Not saying this game is going to be the same. It’s not. Two totally different teams with different players. But it has to give Ridgewood confidence that it can pull the massive upset (game is at Highlands at 4).
As for River Dell at Pascack Hills (4 pm), couldn’t be a bigger game for both in the Big North Patriot race.
River Dell just lost to Mahwah, 3-1, and also has a tie against Ramsey, 1-1, on its division record. That’s not the way it wanted to start its season. At this point it needs a win (or at worst another tie) to stay close to the division leaders. It also needs a confidence boost coming off that loss to Mahwah. Still, this is team that got better as last year went on so they should feel good that they can do that again.
Pascack Hills, the defending league champ, has a tie against Mahwah, 0-0, and a win against Westwood, 2-0, on its division record. It hasn’t given up a goal so far this year but is now entering the heart of its schedule. It faces Ramsey after River Dell with non-league games against the likes of Old Tappan and Northern Highlands after that. A win here would put it in position to take the early lead in the division title race and give them momentum heading into the non-league schedule.
Enjoy.